106 years: Local woman celebrates birthday

Of all the things that have changed in her lifetime, 106-year-old Illian Moss misses traditional Southern food the most.

Jackie Bridges

Of all the things that have changed in her lifetime, 106-year-old Illian Moss misses traditional Southern food the most.

"I miss cornbread and milk and onions," she said at her birthday party Tuesday at Cleveland Pines Nursing Center.

Moss was born in Fallston on July 9, 1907, to Chesley and Claudia Lee Smith. She had a brother and two sisters and they lived on a farm.

She doesn't remember how old she was when she went to work in a cotton mill, but children were allowed to go to work at a younger age then. Her family moved to Florida and then to Virginia and finally came back home to Shelby.

She worked at Dover Yarn Mill, the Buffalo plant, located on N.C. 150. Her supervisor from the 1960s, Dennis Stamey, attended her birthday party.

"She was in spinning and she did her job without my supervison," he said. "She was always on time and never out. She was an A-plus worker."

Stamey also went to church with Moss at Buffalo Baptist and comes to see her about twice a month.

'Happy tears'

Moss blew out the three big "106" candles on her birthday cake with two breaths. She kept tearing up as she talked to people.

"These are happy tears," she said. "I've been so happy. I just love everybody."

Also attending her party were second cousins from Cherryville who hadn't seen her in 30 or 40 years.

"We didn't know what had happened to her until 2 or 3 months ago," Gail Canipe said. "We are thankful to know we have a cousin who is 106 years old."

The family members found out about Moss through Milfred Smith, who lives in California. Smith has researched the family history and writes a newsletter.

Good eyesight and nimble fingers

"The first time we came to see her she was tatting," said her second cousin, Rita Beam.

Tatting is intricate work that requires good eyesight and nimble fingers. Moss demonstrated the technique at her party. She wrapped the thread around her fingers and passed a small shuttle through the loop and pulled it tight. After counting nine stitches, she made a tiny loop and used the pin to catch the thread and pull it through.

Beam's mother, Elva Smith McGinnis, and Moss were first cousins, and she remembers visiting Moss before her mother died, but the family had lost touch. When she and the other cousins from Cherryville saw her again a few months ago, it was a happy reunion.

"It was such a pleasure to see her," she said. "We came in and we sang and we talked."

Beam played the piano for the family to sing. She said their Smith ancestors were musical and talented singers. Moss' grandparents were Bill and Lucinda Smith, who are buried at New Prospect Church. Her aunts and uncles were Colon, Beamus, L.G., Edwin, Edith, Bessie and Luna.

"Longevity runs in some of the family," Beam said. "Colon was 100, Beamus was 101 or 102 and another one lived to be 98."

Secrets to long life

Moss said one of the secrets to her long life and good health - she doesn't take regular medications - is how you treat other people.

"I've been good to everybody and I've helped everybody," she said. "The good Lord takes care of me. I backslid one time and he took me back."

The people who know her and her longtime friends, Reba Davis and Renee Dyer, have a different theory: dipping snuff. Moss takes a dip of Tuberose after every meal. It's a habit she started when she was 9 years old, Davis said.

She said Moss told her that when was a little girl and the children got worms, the doctor told her mother to give them a dip of snuff. Moss said snuff saved her life.

"She has been in our family for about 40 years," Dyer said. "We went to the same church. She used to live with her sister and my mother took care of them. We adopted her as a grandmother. She lived by herself until she was 100. She never complains about anything, except once in a while she says her leg hurts. She is amazing. God has been good to her."

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